one of them i think is senator chuck hagel. >> john mccain and chuck hagel were so close that in 2000, when john mccain realized that he was not going to get the presidential nomination, when john mccain decided he had to give up that bitterly fought nomination battle, the person his campaign put out to speak to the press the day he made his decision to withdraw was his dear friend, old chuck. >> two aides tell nbc news that the arizona senator will announce a suspension of his quest for the white house. back in arizona after his crushing defeat on super tuesday mccain called supporters to thank them. >> we're glad to be home. >> nebraska senator chuck hagel, who spoke to mccain three times yesterday, believes mccain will stay in the republican party. >> he understands the big picture here. >> as you can tell from looking at this footage, as you can tell specifically from the evolution of the eye bags and the hairdos over time, that whole thing between chuck hague sxl john mccain was a long while ago. chuck hagel as john mccain's campaign co-chair, as the top of his short list for def